Hungarian Grammar For Beginners

Modal Verbs / lehet

Equivalent: may, might, to be allowed, maybe. It requries the infinitive.

However, it can be translated or even not translated depending on certain idiomatic expressions. Take a look at the Present Tense example:

is to be had = lehet kapni

Hungarian literally says: one can get

PRESENTLehetkapni még azt a könyvet?
Is that book still to be had?

PASTLehetettbeszélni a főnökkel is.One couldtalk even to the director.

FUTURELehet majdnapozni a strandon.You cansunbathe on the beach.

PRESENT CONDITIONALLehetne többet tudni a filmről?May Iknow more about the movie?

PAST CONDITIONALLehetett volna szebb szekrényt is rendelni.
A nicer cupboard could have beenordered.

More examples:

Akkoriban nem lehetett ilyesmit mondani.
At that time you weren’t allowed tosay things like that.

Hogy lehetneelérni, hogy békén hagyjon?
How can weget him to leave us alone?

As you see it is not mandatory for the infinitive to follow lehet. You can insert the rest of the information between lehet and the infinitive or not. Topic-prominent aspect, that is it’s your choice. Take a look at this example whose English translation is: